The Affiliate Marketing Cowboy

The affiliate marketer is a unique animal. It takes all kinds and there are many paths of an affiliate.

We’ve got those focused on blogs, mobile, PPC, content sites, video, SEO, coupons, email, and any number of other methods to do it.

Some wear a white hat. Others wear a black hat. We’re all working the frontier together and apart for some sort of common goal… starting up and building something of our own to pay the bills and enable us to live this life.

I think country music artist Tim McGraw captures us all pretty well in his song, “The Cowboy in Me”.

I don’t know why I act the way I do;
Like I ain’t got a single thing to lose;
Sometimes I’m my own worst enemy;
I guess that’s just the cowboy in me

Let’s admit it, we’re not rocket scientists. More like mad scientists. We know what we should do, but we don’t always do it.

Like many of you, I’ve got a past littered with PPC campaigns that blew out credit cards, because I wasn’t paying close attention; or years of valuable content lost, due to a failure to back things up.

Affiliate projects started and abandoned; blog posts, Tweets and forum posts made without thinking — those will be around long into the future; great ideas left on the drawing board.

I got a life that most would love to have;
But sometimes I still wake up fightin’ mad

Working from home, flexible hours, freedom. It’s a great arrangement if you can make it work.

Though it’s not easy and nothing is a given. Of course, you know that already. Maybe that’s why we get a little tense some days.

The urge to run, the restlessness;
The heart of stone I sometimes get;
The things I’ve done for foolish pride;
The me that’s never satisfied

We’re a competitive bunch. If there is an average EPC for an offer, we want to do plenty better. If our competitors are making X with a network, we want to hit 2X.

Trying to be top dog for the sake of it isn’t prudent business, though. No matter, we’re driven by our super-ego.

At the end of the day, we are our business, so we’re bound to be unsatisfied by anything less than self-actualization.

You’d never know I just took one intro psychology class back in college. Actually, it’s pretty clear, isn’t it?

We ride and never worry about the fall;
I guess that’s just the cowboy in us all

We didn’t get into this business to be safe. It’s a constant gamble with so many variables, but that’s part of the beauty.